Challenged with fresh figs by David Hermach of Clark Street Ale House, Double A bartender Sean Still started by punning. The creator of drinks such as the From Sean to Dusk (gin, Chartreuse, creme de violette, pear, lemon, and shiso leaf), she first toyed with doing a take on the White Russian, to be called the Fig Lebowski. She also experimented with a drink she named the Figgy Pop—aquavit with muddled figs, lemon, and sake—but found that muddling alone failed to bring out enough fig flavor. So for her next effort she made a supplemental syrup, cooking down the fruit with water, sugar, lemon peel, and lemon juice, then straining the reduced liquid. The resulting concoction has the mauve tint of a sunset.
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By this point she’d arrived at a name—the Figgy Stardust—and that inspired her garnish, a caramelized fig crosshatched with an X before roasting, its quarters held in place by skewers to form a star.
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